The Emigration Policy of the Belgian Government from Belgium to the U.S. Through the Port of Antwerp 1842-1914
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Torsten Feys licentiate thesis for obtaining a master in History year 2002-2003 Professor Eric Vanhaute Contemporary History Gent University The emigration policy of the Belgian government from Belgium to the U.S. through the port of Antwerp 1842-1914 1 Table of content Foreword 6 Introduction 7 Part I: Belgian emigration to the United States: 1842-1883 Chapter I: The causes for the active emigration policy to the U.S.A. by the Belgian government 1.1) The rise of German emigration through the port of Antwerp 14 1.2) The big rural crisis 1845-1855 16 1.3) Emigration as a solution for the crisis 18 1.3.1) The report of baron Auguste Vanderstraeten-Ponthoz 22 1.3.2) The fight against the crisis 27 1.4) Conclusion 28 Chapter II: The agricultural colonies Sainte-Marie and Kansas 2.1) The initiative taken by the government de Theux 2.1.1) The content of the project 28 2.1.2) The search for the appropriate location 29 2.2) Sainte-Marie 2.2.1) The realization of the project under Rogier 31 2.2.2) The provisional agreement and the expeditions from Victor De Ham and A.Moxhet 33 2.2.3) The agreement between De Ham and Rogier 37 2.2.4) The founding of New Flanders by De Ham 38 2.2.5) New Flanders desertion 43 2.2.6) The financial deficit 46 2.2.7) Cartuyvels and his New Brussels 48 2.3) Kansas 2.3.1) The settlement of Dirckx 49 2.3.2) Maguis, Guinotte and Cie 52 2.3.3) The foundation of Kansas 52 2.4) Conclusion 54 2 Chapter III: Belgium helps his beggars, ex-convicts and convicts to emigrate 3.1) The elaboration of the network 3.1.1) Beggar workhouses or beggar colonies 55 3.1.2) The increasing pressure on the government to get rid of the ‘unwanted part’ of the population 56 3.1.3) The network founded in Antwerp 58 3.1.4) The expansion of the network on national level 61 3.1.5) The expansion of the network to prisoners and ex- convicts 65 3.1.6) The first problems 68 3.1.7) The ‘Rochambeau’ case 71 3.2) The collapse of the network 3.2.1) Restrictive measures 76 3.2.2) The search for alternatives: Brazil and Canada 81 3.2.3) New difficulties 86 3.3) Conclusion 89 Chapter IV: The new emigration policy of Vilain XIIII 4.1) The Belgian colony in Wisconsin 4.1.1) The origin and evolution of the colony 91 4.1.2) The standpoint of the government towards the colony 93 4.2) The parliamentary debates concerning emigration 4.2.1) The session of February 5th 1852: the evaluation of the special credit of 1,000,000fr. 98 4.2.2) Session of May 9th 1854: debate on the budget of the Ministry of Justice 99 4.2.3) The session of April 7th 1856: debate concerning the governmental emigration policy 102 4.3) Public Limited Companies 4.3.1) Le Phare 105 4.3.2) The position of the government towards similar associations 107 4.4) Conclusion 111 Chapter V: The American Civil War and the decline of the port of Antwerp 3 5.1) The American Civil War 5.1.1) The influence of the Civil War (1861-1865) on emigration 113 5.1.2) The recruitment of mine workers by Dochez 114 5.1.3) Belgians doing military service in the federal government 117 5.2) The decrease of the emigration movement 5.2.1) The deterioration of the port of Antwerp 123 5.2.2) Critics on the emigration policy 5.2.2.1) Henri Olin 124 5.2.2.2) Charles le Hardy de Beaulieu 126 5.2.2.3) The letters from Decorte 126 5.2.2.4) Some reflections on the three authors 130 5.3) What happened after the Civil War? 5.3.1) Adolphe Strauss and the ‘Guiseppe Baccarcich’ case 131 5.3.2) New shipments of detainees in beggar workhouses to the U.S. by Strauss 136 5.4) Conclusion 140 Part II: The Belgian non-intervention policy regarding the Belgian emigration to the United States between 1883-1913 Chapter I : The revival of the Belgian emigration at the outbreak of new a crisis during the 1880’s 1.1) Industrial expansion leads to a new crisis 143 1.2) The Red Star Line and the revival of the port of Antwerp 144 1.3) The tightening of the American immigration laws 1.3.1) The Knights of Labour 147 1.3.2) The American laws restricting immigration: the ‘Alien Contract Labour Law’ 1.3.2.1) The glassworkers from Charleroi 148 1.3.2.2) The diamond workers 154 1.4) Reflections on the emigration movement and the attitude of the government towards it 155 1.4.1) Cartuyvels 156 1.4.2) Martel 158 1.4.3) Navez 158 1.4.4) The interpretation of the different publications 159 4 1.5) The position of the Belgian government towards emigration: providing information 1.5.1) The Belgian emigration policy 161 1.5.2) The reaction of the Belgian government towards the ‘Alien contract labour law’ 166 1.5.3) The insufficient efforts of the government to provide the emigrants with information 168 1.6) The Saint-Raphael Society 170 1.7) The economic crisis in the United States 172 1.8) Conclusion 175 Chapter II: The passive attitude of the catholic government towards the increasing emigration movement 2.1) Introduction 177 2.2) The increasing restrictive measures on immigration into the United States 2.2.1) The amendments of 1903 178 2.2.2) The amendment of the 20th of February 1907 183 2.2.3) The White Slave Traffic Act July 25th 1910 and Dillingham Project 1913 184 2.3) The international congress for the worldwide economical expansion: 1905 186 2.4) American states try to lure Belgian emigrants 188 2.4.1) Louisiana 189 2.4.2) Colorado 192 2.4.3) South Carolina 195 2.4.4) The southern states after 1907 206 2.5) The influence of the Belgian Catholic Church 210 2.6) The standpoint of the government and the political parties towards emigration 214 Conclusion 219 Bibliography 224 5 Foreword After finishing high school I moved to the U.S. as a Rotary exchange student. I stayed in Pagosa Springs, a small mountain town in southwestern Colorado. I quickly learned how mobile Americans are. In spite of being a small town, I met people from all over the country, from Iowa to Louisiana, Hawaii to Alaska. That most of the people I met still knew there origins surprised me the most. People always told me with a certain pride: “I am 1/8th German, 1/4th Swedish, 1/16th Polish, etc. Would the people I met have inherited the mobility of their forefathers? However to my surprise I never met any American with Belgian ‘roots’ in Pagosa. Three years later I learned that I was at the wrong place to meet Americans with Belgians ‘roots’. I travelled through the U.S. and Canada and stayed for a while in Windsor with a Belgian family who had immigrated there fifty years ago. They introduced me to the Belgian community of the area. I learned about the ‘Gazette van Detroit’, joined the Belgians club of Windsor for their annual pick-nick, and got fascinated by people’s stories about crossing the Atlantic during the first half of the 20th century. However these clubs will not exist for much longer. Meanwhile, the second generation feels more Canadian than Belgian. My interest for emigration history comes from with this experience. Originally I wanted to write my licentiate’s thesis about Belgians who emigrated to the U.S. and Canada, but this seemed to be a bit too ambitious. I had to limit my research to the Belgian emigration to the U.S. With this I also want to express my gratitude to some people who collaborated during my research. First of all I want to thank my promoter, Professor Eric Vanhaute. He was always available to answer my questions. Every time I walked into his office with some doubts and questions about the project, I walked out with a good portion of self-confidence and motivation. I also want to thank the personnel of the archives of the ministry of Foreign affairs, the Albertina library, and the Center for American studies. Furthermore I want to thank Jeroen Storme, Dieter Van de Putte and Frederick Derck who corrected the original Dutch version of this study. Moreover I want to thank Gunther Vanneste for sharing his flat with me while I was doing my archive research in Brussels. A very special thanks goes out to Vaughn Curd for editing the English version1. I also want to thank my friends and family for all their support. Finally I want to thank my parents for allowing me to make my own choices in life and for always supporting me to materialize them. This is the only page he didn’t get to edit and this is probably quite noticeable. 6 Introduction Definition of the central question The emigration movement to the United States constitutes one of the most remarkable events of the 19th century. Between 1820 and the First World War the movement numbered about 30,000,000 people. Most emigrants came from Europe. Germany, Ireland and England provided the bulk of these emigrants between 1820 and 18802.